One desirable property of large-area organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for lighting purposes is the homogeneity of the luminance over the active, light-emitting area. A conventional OLED usually has two electrode layers, between which are arranged organic layers for the generation and emission of light. On account of the small layer thicknesses and/or materials usually used, the electrode layers of the OLED have a relatively high electrical resistance, which brings about a relatively low transverse conductivity along the extension direction or plane of the electrode layers, at high current densities a voltage drop arises along the extension direction or plane, which voltage drop can lead to a considerable inhomogeneity of the luminance. This is undesirable, however, especially in the case of lighting applications requiring a large and homogeneous luminous area.